Amongst the population at large April means the coming of spring and cherry blossoms. Within the smaller cricket community it represents something more profound – the start of the new cricket season. What a cracking start to the season it was too with 8 wins from 10 matches, including 4 wins against Men in Blue. 

The start of the season was marked with sad news for one of the longtime members who lost their father. As a mark of respect all squads wore a black band on their arms for their first matches of the season.

The Sharks 2025 campaign kicked off on March 30th with a Japan Cup match against Men in Blue at Sammu. The Sharks were led by new T20 captain Abhi and featured a strong squad of JCL 1 and JCL 2 players. The match also saw the debut of 2 new Sharks, Rahul Koul and Lirushan. After winning the toss the Sharks decided to bowl. The plans for specific batters were executed to near perfection. Rithvik was on fire, getting a hattrick as part of his total of 4/15 and captain Abhi getting an impressive 3/12. After 20 overs MIB achieved a total of 120. The Sharks came out swinging, taking 15 off their first over and not looking back from there, reaching the required target in the 15th over. Openers Nikil and Rithvik almost wrapped up the game scoring 55-0 in 3.3 overs! After Rithvik was removed in the 5th over and Nikhil in the 7th the middle order put the finishing touches to the match, with Ghufi hitting 30 from 25 (not out) and Abhi contributing 21. The Sharks reached 121 for 4 winning in the 15th over. First match, first win of the season!

The weekend of 5th and 6th of April saw the Sharks JCL T10 campaign for 2025, with 2 league games on the 5th and the knockout matches on the 6th. 

The league games were all about letting everyone have a hit and believing that we bat very deep so no time to second guess…we would go for our shots from ball 1. We dominated the first league game against Men in Blue, winning by 9 wickets following some quick fire-batting batting from Ben (51 from 25 balls) and Dhugal (24 from 14 balls) after our bowlers had held MIB to 94/1. If the first game was a dominant performance led by the bat, the second against the Rising Stars was dominated by our bowlers. Batting first we set the Rising Stars a target of 108 with impressive figures from Nikhil (48 from 29 balls) and Ghufi (33 from 20 balls); then our bowlers got to work. Apart from the Star’s opening batsmen none managed to get comfortable and start building a score. 2 batters were removed for ducks, and 6 others failed to get over 5 runs apiece as Tim (3/10), Manav (2/11) and Ben (2/17) tore through the order. Takady also made a run out.

For knockouts we wanted to dominate with our fielding and we achieved this when we took down the Tigers in the semifinals. Batting first it looked like we were in trouble as we scraped over the line losing our last wicket on the final ball of the 10th over for a total of 76/10. Worryingly Nikhil and Dhugal both pulled their hamstrings running between the wickes, effectively putting them out of action….the Sharks knew they had to dig deep to overcome the Tigers batters. Freddy showed the way removing the Tigers opening batsman for a duck with his first ball – game on! Wickets then fell steadily under the deliveries of the Sharks bowlers with 5 players taking wickets. 2 substitute fielders (Tim and Rahul) from the 2nd XI, who were playing on the adjacent ground, even played their part by taking a catch each before leaving the field to resume their own game! In the end the Sharks superior bowling and fielding held the Tigers to 70/7 after 10 overs, the Sharks winning by 6 runs and securing a spot in the final. Reaching the final was a great achievement for the team, alas we were not to be so fortunate in this final of challenges. Our Opponents Sano frustrated our bowlers and managed to get to a total of 120/4 in their 10 overs. Despite the valiant effort of our batsmen, which included Ben hitting 38 from 15 balls, Ghufi hitting 21 off 10 and an injured Dhugal coming in at 11, we could only score a total of 96. Being crowned runners up in the T10 tournament is a great achievement, and we are proud of the team for securing the first Sharks trophy of 2025!

Whilst the T10 squad was performing heroics on SICG 1, over on SICG 2 the 2nd XI were taking on the Tokyo Titans in JCL Division 2, under new captain Rui Matsumura. Following a warmup session led by our training co-ordinator Nick, the Sharks batted first having won the toss. Batting performances across the team were good, with 6 players achieving double figures, however Rahul was the star batter getting a total of 102 and taking us much of the way to our total of 230/8. We could not feel safe, however, having last season failed to defend an even bigger score. The bowling attack started off perfectly with a wicket from Tim on the first ball, after which they plugged away with good economy until the 17th over, by which time the Titans were on 62/2. The up stepped Hammad on for the 18th over during which he removed 3 wickets for only 1 run! After this the Titans dug in and attempted to kill the game and deny the Sharks a bonus point by blocking the ball. In the end the batsmen ground out the rest of the innings, not threatening to win but frustrating our bowlers. The Sharks won as the Titans could only score 177/6 in their 40 overs. Despite the grinding finish there were celebrations all round at the 2nd XI`s first win in over a year.

The following Saturday, on April 12th The 1st XI had their first outing in JCL Division 1 against the Rising Stars, who beat us last time we played together in the league. Buoyed by the successes in the JCL T10 and JCL Division 2 the team went out looking for a fight and boy they didn`t disappoint! Having won the toss and chosen to bat they went great guns with the first 4 batsmen getting above 50 (Ghufi 65, Doogs 52, Ben 64, and Takady just missing out on a century with 94). After 40 overs the Sharks were 335/10. The Stars batsmen put up a valiant fight but were all out halfway through the last over for a total of 183. Freddy (3/20), Kento (2/39) and Ben (2/27) were the pick of the bowlers in a great performance with 4 batsmen clean bowled.

Division 4 and the Sharks 3rd XI was ‘all dressed up with nowhere to go’ after the round 1 match scheduled for April 13th was rained out. Our first game against Adore in three years was much anticipated by both clubs, who have a long and friendly rivalry. Although the 13th was to be an unlucky day for the Sharks 3rd XI, it was less so for Adore, who escaped a savage Shark beating!

Saturday 26th saw a double header for the Sharks with 1st and 2nd XI playing the Men in Blue in JCL Division 1 and Division 2 respectively, on adjacent grounds at Sano Riverside. 4 new Sharks were capped; Dylan (from New Zealand) and Keishi (from Australia) both visiting to play in the JPL and joining the 1st XI, plus Eric and Aman joining the 2nd XI. 

The 1st XI subjected MIB to the sort of thrashing that they gave the Rising Stars the week before, batting first and getting to 254/10 then dismissing MIB within 27 overs for a total of 122/10. The difference this week was that whilst no batsman scored a half century, 8 scored more than 15 runs, showing the depth of quality in our squad. Similarly 5 bowlers took wickets and the fielders took 2 runouts. Manav took the most wickets (3/30), whilst Ben had amazing economy (1/3 from 4 overs).

The 2nd XI also continued their winning streak with another playing scoring a century. Moose played the whole innings and was looking slow at first, scoring 28 runs by the 20th over when something clicked, he suddenly hit a reverse sweep for 6 and then opened up. By the end of the innings he was on 120 for the highest individual score of any Shark so far this year! Rithvik and Umar also played key roles scoring 28 a piece as the Sharks got to 247/4. The Sharks innings was also notable for another reason – a 16 ball over featuring 9 wides and a no ball. When the Sharks turn to bowl came captain Rui and Rithvik both took 3, with ever reliable Hammad taking 2. Eric took his first Sharks wicket with his first ball! MIB resorted to blocking to prevent the Sharks getting them all out before the 32nd over and getting an extra point. Our increasingly frustrated bowlers finally removed the last of their batsmen in the 35th over for 154/10 and a second consecutive Div 2 win, something that hasn’t happened since the 2023 season.

The new joiners enjoyed their day, though Dylan could be heard giggling and muttering `village` at the site of the riverside 1B ground and some of the MIB cricket that was on display…..lets hope he didn’t see some of the authors fielding in the Division 2 game, which was definitely of the village variety….

On Sunday 27th Japan U19 were playing PGN U19 at SICG in an East Asia Pacific Region qualification tournament for the 2026 U19 Men`s Cricket World Cup. As the squad featured Sharkies Nikhil, Tim and Max a number of the team went along to watch. Ash led the Sharks camp, which was established in one of the stands. Though small in number the Sharks fired up the ground with their cheers and showed the local crowd how fun supporting cricket can be and players from other clubs just how special the Chiba Sharks is. Japan also won, which was nice. A good end to a good month for the Sharks!